The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil,political,economic,social,health and cultural rights of children. The convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen,unless the age of majority is attained earlier under national legislation.
A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on minors,especially in home and school settings,its methods may include spanking or paddling. When it is inflicted on adults,it may be inflicted on prisoners and slaves.
The age of criminal responsibility is the age below which a child is deemed incapable of having committed a criminal offence. In legal terms,it is referred to as a defence/defense of infancy,which is a form of defense known as an excuse so that defendants falling within the definition of an "infant" are excluded from criminal liability for their actions,if at the relevant time,they had not reached an age of criminal responsibility. After reaching the initial age,there may be levels of responsibility dictated by age and the type of offense committed.
Helena Ann Kennedy,Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws,KC,FRSA,HonFRSE,is a Scottish barrister,broadcaster,and Labour member of the House of Lords. She was Principal of Mansfield College,Oxford,from 2011 to 2018.
The Children's Rights Movement is a historical and modern movement committed to the acknowledgment,expansion,and/or regression of the rights of children around the world. This act laid several constitutional laws for the growth of a child's mental and physical health.. It began in the early part of the last century and has been an effort by government organizations,advocacy groups,academics,lawyers,lawmakers,and judges to construct a system of laws and policies that enhance and protect the lives of children. While the historical definition of child has varied,the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child asserts that "A child is any human being below the age of eighteen years,unless under the law applicable to the child,majority is attained earlier." There are no definitions of other terms used to describe young people such as "adolescents","teenagers" or "youth" in international law.
Graça Machel is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former President of Mozambique Samora Machel (1975–1986) and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (1998–2013). Machel is an international advocate for women's and children's rights and was made an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 for her humanitarian work. She is the only woman in modern history to have served as First Lady of two countries,South Africa and Mozambique.
Defence for Children International (DCI) is an independent non-governmental organisation set up in 1979,during the International Year of the Child,to ensure on-going,practical,systematic and concerted international and national action specially directed towards promoting and protecting the rights of the child,as articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Nigel Cantwell was one of its founders and its current president is Khaled Quzmar of Palestine.
The Juvenile Justice Act,2000 is the primary legal framework for juvenile justice in India. The act provides for a special approach towards the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency and provides a framework for the protection,treatment and rehabilitation of children in the purview of the juvenile justice system. This law,brought in compliance of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC),repealed the earlier Juvenile Justice Act of 1986 after India signed and ratified the UNCRC in 1992. In the wake of Delhi gang rape,the law suffered a nationwide criticism owing to its helplessness against crimes where juveniles get involved in heinous crimes like rape and murder. In 2015,responding to the public sentiment,both the houses of parliament in India further amended the bill that proposed adult-like treatment for juveniles aged 16–18 above accused of heinous crimes. The lower house,i.e. Lok Sabha passed the bill on 7 May 2015 and the upper house,i.e. Rajya Sabha on 22 December 2015. The bill was approved by President Pranab Mukherjee's assent on 31 December 2015.
Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor is a South African politician,educator and academic serving as the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation since 2019. She has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994.
Brigitte Sylvia Mabandla is a South African politician,lawyer and former anti-apartheid activist who served in the cabinet of South Africa from 2003 to 2009,including as the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development from 2004 to 2008. She became the South African Ambassador to Sweden in January 2020. A veteran of the African National Congress (ANC),she was an elected member of party's National Executive Committee between 1997 and 2012.
The timeline of children's rights in the United Kingdom includes a variety of events that are both political and grassroots in nature.
The University of Pretoria Faculty of Law was established in 1908. It consists of six academic departments,six centres,two law clinics,and the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP). This faculty ranked best in Africa for the fourth year in a row with leading Departments of Jurisprudence;Mercantile Law;Private Law;Procedural Law;Public Law;and Centre for Human Rights. The faculty offers the undergraduate LLB degree,and postgraduate LLM/MPhil and LLD/PhD degrees.
The United States has signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC);however,it remains the only United Nations member state to have not ratified it.
Nimfa Cuesta Vilches was a Senior Deputy Court Administrator (DCA) at the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA),Supreme Court of the Philippines. She was a regional trial court judge in Manila until her appointment as Assistant Court Administrator in 2006 and as DCA in 2008. She was a family law expert in the Philippines and in the international legal community.
Natasha Wendy Anita MazzoneMP OSI is a South African politician who served as the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa from October 2019 until August 2022. She has been a Member of the National Assembly,representing the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA),since 2009. She was the second Deputy Federal Council Chairperson of the DA and the party's spokesperson on state capture. Mazzone has previously served as Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises and of Communications.
Justice Renate Winter is an Austrian judge to the Special Court for Sierra Leone,and an expert on family law,juvenile justice systems,women’s justice issues and child labour. She is a founding member of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child (IDE) which is dedicated to the worldwide training of judicial personnel and dissemination of information on children’s rights and former president of the International Association of Youth and Family Court Judges.
Paul Verryn is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Known for his anti-apartheid activism,he was Bishop of the church's Central District between 1997 and 2009. During that period,he was a prominent and controversial figure for his activism against xenophobia,and clashed with the South African government over his decision to accommodate hundreds of refugees at his Central Methodist Church in the Johannesburg city centre.
Intersex people in South Africa have some of the same rights as other people,but with significant gaps in protection from non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions and protection from discrimination. The country was the first to explicitly include intersex people in anti-discrimination law.
The Islamic Republic of Iran signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991 and ratified it in 1994. Upon ratification,Iran made the following reservation:"If the text of the Convention is or becomes incompatible with the domestic laws and Islamic standards at any time or in any case,the Government of the Islamic Republic shall not abide by it."
Janet Yetta Love is a South African civil servant,activist and former politician who has served as vice-chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa since 2018. Before her appointment to the Electoral Commission in 2016,she was a part-time commissioner at the South African Human Rights Commission from 2009 to 2016. She was also director of the Legal Resources Centre from 2006 to 2018.
